Tokyo University of the Arts Animation at Nippon Connection 2013

At Nippon Connection 2013, a selection of works by graduate students from the Tokyo University of the Arts (aka Geidai) animation programme was presented by NHK producer and current director of the Geidai Graduate School of Film and New Media, Professor Mitsuko Okamoto. 

Although Geidai itself is one of the oldest art schools in Japan, starting off as the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1887, the Graduate School of Film and New Media was established in Yokohama in 2005 with its Department of Animation forming in 2008.  Although the animation programme is only 5 years old, they have quickly established themselves as one of the top places in Japan to study animation as students there are given the opportunity to learn from some of the best in the business including world renowned animator Koji Yamamura (Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor, Muybridge’s Strings) and i.Toon stop motion animator Yuichi Ito (Knyacki!, Winter Days).  Geidai’s students have already found acclaim at animation festivals around the world including Atsushi Wada (In a Pig’s Eye, The Great Rabbit), Saori Shiroki (MAGGOT, Woman Who Stole Fingers), and Ryo Okawara (Orchestra, A Wind Egg).

The Geidai graduate programme only accepts 16 students a year into its 2-year programme.  They have the lofty aim of developing a “new era of Japanese animation” and pride themselves on their dedication to new expression and experimental spirit.  They actively look for students who have originality, are highly motivated, and demonstrate strong themes in their work.  As it is a graduate programme, the students usually come with some animation experience under their belt.  In addition to honing their skills as animators, Prof. Okamoto uses her experience as a producer to teach the students about the business of filmmaking: how to present a plan, how to make a budget, how to create a workable schedule, how to promote one’s film, and so on.

The programme shown at Nippon Connection 2013 demonstrated Geidai’s wide range of styles from hand drawn to computer animation, from the sweet to the surreal.  In the coming weeks I hope to review some of my favourites for you including Aya Tsugehata’s stop motion animation Imamura Store and Ryo Okawara’s A Wind Egg which won the Lotte Reiniger Promotion Award at Stuttgart in June.

The programme that screened at NC2013:

Fully Cooked For You (Onishime otabe, Yuka IMABAYASHI, 2011, 3’44”)

Promise (Yakusoku, Aki KONO, 2011, 8‘27“)

A Wind Egg (Kara no tamago, Ryo OKAWARA, 2012, 10’30”)

The Tender March (Yasashii March, Wataru UEKUSA, 2011, 4’48”)

Imamura Store (Imamura shoten, Aya TSUGEHATA, 2011, 5’16”) read review

Specimens of Obsessions (Hyohon no to, Atsushi MAKINO, 2011, 12’08”)

Flower and Steam (Hana to yome, Eri KAWAGUCHI, 2012, 4’06”)

Maze King (Hakhyun KIM, 2013, 7’01”)

Recruit Rhapsody (Shukatsu kyosokyoku, Maho YOSHIDA, 2012, 7’27”)

Hide-and-Seek (Kakurenbo, Keiko SHIRAISHI, 2012, 7’51”)

Sunset Flower Blooming (Yugesho, Yuanyuan HU, 2012, 10’19”)

It's Time for Supper (Yoru gohan no jikoku, Saki MURAMOTO, 2013, 8’28”)

Some of these shorts and many more can be found on the Geidai University DVD collections for 2011, 2012, and 2013.

#nippon13 #nc2013

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2013

Shady (かしこい狗は、吠えずに笑う, 2012)

Ryohei Watanabe (b. 1987) made a splash at last year’s Pia Film Festival with his debut feature film Shady (かしこい狗は、吠えずに笑う/Kashikoi inu wa hoezu ni warau, 2012) where he won the Entertainment Award and the Cinema Fan Award.  Since then, his film has shown at international festivals including Nippon Connection 13 and the Nara International Film Festival.  Yoshito Seino has listed Watanabe as one of 7 Japanese Indie filmmakers to check out at the upcoming Raindance (25^th Sept. – 6^th Oct. 2013) in the UK.

On the surface Shady appears to be a teenage girl coming of age film.  Risa Kumada (mimpi*β) is an outsider at school.  Her body type and round face don’t conform to what’s currently “cool” and she finds herself on the receiving end of cruel taunts from the school bullies.  Mocking her slightly chubby appearance, the bully ringleader Marisa calls Risa “Pooh-san” in a play on words of “kuma” (bear) in her family name. 

Risa has become so resigned to her fate as an outsider that she is startled by the sudden attentions of Izumi (岡村いずみ), who is one of the cutest girls in high school.  Wary at first, Risa soon falls under the spell of Izumi’s charm and before long the girls have become best friends who confide in each other and do everything together.  Before long their friendship takes on the intensity of a romance.

However, there is a growing sense of unease that develops gradually from the moment the film begins.  This unease is invoked through parallel story lines (the police search for missing classmate Aya), cinematography (strange glimpses of the past and the future shot in shades of grey with punches of colour), the soundtrack, and metaphor.  Right at the outset, a sense of entrapment is established when Risa as voice-over narrator wonders if people can sympathize with what it is like to be a dog on a leash, a fish in an aquarium, or a bird in a cage.  Watanabe and cinematographer Katstuki Tsuji continue this motif by filming Risa and Izumi in claustrophobic spaces and frames within the frame from the aquarium in the foreground to the electricity lines.

Izumi’s home also serves as a metaphor for her character: a strangely quiet place devoid of family life.  When Risa expresses surprise at how big the house is, Izumi mysteriously warns Risa that appearances can be deceiving.  Of course, Risa does not head this or any other warning (i.e. Izumi’s repeated quotation of Napoleon saying “Men are moved by two levers only— fear and self interest”) until she is too psychologically entangled with Izumi to escape. 

For such a young filmmaker, Watanabe has put together a tightly edited, suspenseful film.  Although I might have gone a different route with the resolution of the film, it was a delight to see such a well executed film under 2 hours in length at Nippon Connection.  A nice contrast from the countless young directors whose films drag on because unconstrained by the cost of film stock they indulge themselves with long-winded endings.  Ryohei Watanabe is definitely a filmmaker to keep one’s eye on.

For more on Ryohei Watanabe see Guillaume Boutigny’s interview with him at Nihon Eiga  (FR) and Adam Torel’s Best of 2012 posting on Wildgrounds (EN).

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2013

#nippon13 #nc2013